9 Life Lessons I Learnt From Nethack
Andrew
or enlightening, from my blog, Remap Your Reality, which can be found
at <a href="http://www.remapyourreality.com">www.remapyourreality.com</
a>.
***
Steve Pavlina has just made an excellent case for why <a href=http://
www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2010/01/domination-and-submission/>BDSM is
about personal development</a>. So now I'm going to explain why the
free, open-source game <a href=http://www.nethack.org/>Nethack</a> has
been a help for me in my quest to Remap my Reality :)
<b>1. Love is what makes genius</b>
Nethack is a game that I consider to be a true work of genius. It's
funny, playful, exciting, balanced, rich, incredibly complex, and
stimulating for pretty much any player and any skill level. I think it
is the deepest computer game I've ever played - it stands a level
above most others. How did this happen? If this were the work of one
person we could write them off as a freak genius, created by nature
just to outshine us pathetic mortals. But Nethack was created by a
thirty-person team.
I think Nethack got to where it was because it was created with love.
I don't think you need to work for free, by the way (the Nethack team
did), to access the creativity that comes with loving what you do. I
do think, however, that you need to be free of scarcity-based fears.
It takes some nerve to stay peaceful enough to love when you don't
know where your rent is coming from. If you haven't succeeded in
breaking your social programming to see money in a non-threatening way
(I'm still on it), therefore, then working for free does the job.
<b>2. Be brave, not foolish</b>
Nethack is a dangerous game, because when you die, you can't redo your
mistake, you have to create a new character and start over. You will
get to love your character, feel happy with the things you've
accomplished and the power you have built for yourself, and maybe
you're even attached to the pet you have, your trusty monster-
murdering companion. Then BAM, you do something stupid or are even
wronged by a sheer freak of statistics, and you die. You can't go
back. You're dead.
In life as in Nethack, death isn't final but it sure is annoying. Risk
management is such a big issue. Is it really going to help you to take
a risk on death just to get slightly better armor? Keep your
priorities in mind, people.
In life, perhaps you'll want to cover your risks by going after extra
money. But again, priorities. You have your own meaning of life; mine
is to love. Will extra armor (money) bring me more ability to love? Or
could I love more by not being obsessed by small imperfections in my
armor?
(At this moment, more money does mean more ability to love for me. But
it's good to remind myself to love now and not wait for perfection).
Unlike Nethack, cowardice is often more of a problem in life than
excess bravado. However, in both worlds you will need to learn to
balance things. Act in spite of your fear, but don't become
unconscious of it.
<b>3. The present moment is more important than the goal</b>
How many times will we have to read this before we start living it? In
Nethack, I often became VERY frustrated when my character died. After
20 hours of playing just to get killed by a rock falling on my head or
something equally stupid, I actually had to go into a period of
mourning before starting a new game. I was shocked - I didn't feel
like my character would ever die. But it did.
What's more, I often lost the enjoyment of the game by trying too hard
to win. I would overstretch myself, playing for more time than was
healthy using repetitive and boring strategies. Even if I had won, I
think my win would have been rather hollow. However, I also noticed
the more I fought to win rather than fighting for the fun of it, the
more I tended to die stupidly.
Over time I was forced by repeated emotional battering to get more Zen
about it and focused on ENJOYING the game in the present moment - the
only moment there is.
Are you fighting so hard to survive that you're killing yourself?
<b>4. Play the cards that you are dealt</b>
Nethack is a game based on chance. Sometimes you're lucky in the
equipment and adversaries that get sent your way, sometimes you're
not.
I think it's immature to give up if you're dealt a bad hand, though.
It's not over till it's over, and so long as you know how to adapt you
can make it through almost any difficulty. Some challenges are
actually blessings in disguise, in fact. By being forced to use your
ingenuity to overcome an obstacle, you will discover things you'll
have never discovered by having it easy.
<b>5. Don't take risky decisions when you're emotional</b>
When I'm playing Nethack for a long time and get frustrated, bored,
angry, or tired, then maybe it's time to leave it for a while. I know
that when I'm not thinking clearly I can do stupid things. When these
things have far-reaching consequences, then you need to leave the
decisions till a better time.
<b>6. An addiction is a healthy practise used to run away from
something</b>
In my life, I have abused masturbation, sleep, food, alcohol, internet
and Nethack.
I don't feel the need to give up any of these things. But when I'm
taking any of them to an extreme, it's time to examine my life. I find
that I use these things to try and avoid something I don't want to
face.
Well that thing is still there, and maybe your life needs changes -
maybe it needs drastic changes. It wasn't easy for me, but I finally
uprooted the problem whose symptoms were addictions such as Nethack.
Though it was uncomfortable, this required me to give up my addictions
for long enough to recognise my problem.
Nowadays I might sit down and spend five or ten minutes to
thoughtfully play through a single level of Nethack, trying to do
everything well and savouring the patterns which chance plays out, the
special challenges I go through, and the ingenious strategies I come
up with to beat them. I remember that the goal is not the end, but
that enjoying the game is. I also remember that I am here, now, that I
have my goals and desires, and that life is hard, but it can also be
very rewarding. I don't feel the need to run from those facts any
more. I take life one level at a time :)
<b>7. I like to win</b>
I think we all have a warrior side. I'd like to think of myself as a
spiritual person, according to my own idea of spirituality. So am I
doing something wrong by playing out a fantasy where I kill hundreds
of bloodthirsty monsters? I don't know, but for now I don't think so.
I think the lower chakras are just as divine as the higher ones, and
there is a place for everything, including battle. And let's face it,
victory feels good.
If I lower my vibration by doing this I trust I will realise, in time.
For now, I am being "spiritual" by not fighting my dark side (if it is
my dark side), and not caring to be consistent with a rigid identity.
<b>8. The appearance is not what matters</b>
Nethack isn't a timeless classic (perhaps the only computer game that
can be called timeless) because of graphics. I prefer to play with a
very simple display that represents me as an "@" symbol and different
monsters with different letters of the alphabet.
I think by not having to win an arms race with other game designers
for the title of world's flashiest game, Nethack has had the chance to
go deeper.
In my own blog, I go for content over appearance. For now (and I'm not
saying that it will always be like that) the presentation is neat, but
strictly functional. I do hear from time to time that I have touched
people's lives.
Million-dollar graphics don't do that.
<b>9. You learn from everything</b>
Maybe some things are better teachers than others, but anything you
put your soul into will help you grow. That's what I think.
What do you think?
<a href=http://www.nethack.org>Nethack: it's free, it's awesome, it's
vintage, and it works on any operating system you an imagine.</a>
hept...@gmail.com
Jorgen Grahn
> AAAAAAAAAAH, there's html in my newsgroup!!!
If HTML always was so non-intrusive as in that posting,
I'd happily accept it.
/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
David Damerell
>Nethack is a game that I consider to be a true work of genius. It's
>funny, playful, exciting, balanced, rich, incredibly complex, and
>stimulating for pretty much any player and any skill level.
I'll always have a soft spot for vanilla NH, but it would be hard to
describe it as well balanced, and the mishmosh of accreted features does
not look so good next to later roguelikes that were more actively
designed. Played DCSS?
>In life as in Nethack, death isn't final but it sure is annoying.
I think the sense of this sentence has become confused.
><b>8. The appearance is not what matters</b>
>Nethack isn't a timeless classic (perhaps the only computer game that
>can be called timeless)
Again, I think you need to play some other roguelikes. NetHack is very
unusual, but it's not unique.
--
David Damerell <dame...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> Oil is for sissies
Today is Second Teleute, January.
Tomorrow will be Second Oneiros, January.
James Of Tucson
> On Mon, 2010-01-11, hepta...@gmail.com wrote:
> > AAAAAAAAAAH, there's html in my newsgroup!!!
>
> If HTML always was so non-intrusive as in that posting,
> I'd happily accept it.
>
> /Jorgen
Whoa, I'm deal with html source so often, I read the message without
noticing, and had to see your message before I saw the markup.
Scary.